Odessa here with a layout using the January Memory Keeping Kits. This month, in the Pocket Kit (which was simply AMAZING!) there were some super cute wood veneer pieces. I really like wood veneer pieces, but sometimes they look too “unfinished” for my layouts. Almost every time I use them I do one little thing that I think goes a long way to making them work with my layouts more that I wanted to share with you.

I ink them up! It’s so easy and I just love the way it makes a wood piece look on a layout. I almost always use white, but you could certainly use other colours too. I simply pull out some pigment ink and place the wood veneer piece down on some scrap paper. I then smush it up with the stamp pad which tones down the wood without getting rid of the wood feel – the grain and detail still show up. I’ve also used chalk markers to get the same effect, but the ink pads are way faster.

On this layout I used a few of the wood pieces and used this technique to tone them down to go better with the look and feel of the layout. I really like the way it looks and it’s made me use my wood veneer pieces way more – you can make them any colour! The pigment ink is ideal for this technique because it doesn’t soak into the wood and stain it as much as a regular ink or maker would.

So if you struggle with wood pieces, want to make them match the colour scheme of your layout or simply want to try something new give it a try!

Once you try this you might find it hard to stop and start pulling out old wood pieces to get them on your layouts. It really changed the way I look at them.

Do you use wood veneer pieces in your layout? Do you have any tips or tricks that you use with them? I’d love to hear them!